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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Someone pinch me. Please. I am having such a hard time believing it is time to start planning and preparing for the holiday season!

I will admit, I am one that easily gets taken by surprise at how quickly the season comes each year, and by the time I typically get into the holiday swing of things, they are already over! However, I have vowed that I will NOT procrastinate this year. Tree will go up earlier, gifts will be purchased earlier, cards will be done earlier... and that means I must get my rear in gear!

Courtney is giving me the kick start I need today, I just went to holiday heaven by reading her post. Hopefully you will find yourself getting excited to kick off the most wonderful time of the year as well! Here she is now!

With the holidays peeking out from behind the corner, I am trying to get as organized as possible. I have started collecting items for our advent calendar countdown as well as getting this wrapping box organized for little Christmas gifts. This box is designed to help me quickly put together teacher gifts, neighbor goodies, hostess gifts and any other need for an unexpected gift here and there. The idea behind it is to have everything in one place so that when I go to give out those yearly gifts {teachers, friends, hostess, etc.} I don’t have to scramble for wrapping.

The box itself is a white box from The Container Store but you could use absolutely anything. And it’s only for a couple of months so feel free to shop your home and “borrow” a basket of box for the season.

So what is in the box? Here is the breakdown: Bakers String, Crinkle Paper, Tote Bags, Gift Tags, Scissors, a Pen, and small shatter proof ornaments.

The small ornaments are from both Hobby Lobby and Ikea. They have amazing prices on these little guys and you can easily grab them with a coupon. The package of small white totes is also from Hobby Lobby and only costs $5 for 12. With a 40% off coupon it’s only around $3.00 and there will be enough for me to cover all the little gifts that I give out.

The gift tags were only $2.00 for a set of 15 from Hobby Lobby. They come as blank cards so that you can do whatever you want with them. I always think a cute gift tag can really make a simple gift look very special.

So with everything I need in just one place, I can easily wrap a gift card or simple gift in a jiffy. Does anyone say “jiffy” anymore?? Each tote bag will be filled with crinkle paper and tied with an ornament and gift tag. I also keep a pen tucked in the box so I can fill out the card as well.

When I shop this year, I will keep in mind the size of my tote bags. When I give out little gifts to teachers, neighbors, friends or a hostess these are some of the gifts I often give:

Starbuck’s Gift Cards

A Set of Coasters

A Pretty Bracelet

Personalized Stationary

A Small Decorative Bowl

By the way, this bakers string was a steal from Target. They had it in the dollar section and each one comes with ten yards. I only use about 10” per gift so this will be more than enough for the holiday season. Be on the look out if you want to scoop some up.

So that is my wrapping box for those little last minute gifts. Keep in mind this is to wrap teachers’ gifts as well as hostess gifts. The gifts to family are normally wrapped in boxes with some fun additions. You can see how I wrapped all of those last year. I am sort of a sucker for a beautifully wrapped gift. Who isn’t, right?!

Here’s to an organized holiday season! I am excited to implement this box this year and see if I can stay on top of all of the little gifts that seem to pop up out of the blue. What about you? Do you have a fun idea for keeping your holiday gift wrapping close at hand?

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How fun! I love being creative with wrapping gifts. For the past few years I wrap EVERYTHING with brown craft paper and then I can personalize it for any occasion with all the little extra touches. Now instead of having lots of wrapping paper I just have one roll but lots of ribbon, bows, tape, etc!

I'm still in denial that Thanksgiving is in abotu 2 weeks (eeeek, I have planning to do). I will not procrastinate buying xmas gifts ... will not procrastinate ... will not ... well, maybe :) I will TRY NOT TO ;)

Sooo cute!! I have a little box with some of the essentials, but you have totally inspired me to upgrade! I love how you separated your holiday stuff from other gift wrap, and keeping your gift bags in there with everything?? Genius!!

My kids presents were bought in July during the Target clearance sale and Toys R Us annual Lego sale. And their birthday presents will be bought during the after Christmas clearance sale. So at least I don't have to worry about that bit. Just cooking the dinners...

I started picking up odds and ends this week too! Especially the things I know I usually run around hunting for like a crazy woman last minute (extra ribbon, boxes, gingerbread houses, icing for the houses, etc). I am feeling so much more relaxed this year! I am a huge fan of plain kraft paper (Target has it this year) and bakers twine. Simple and easy!

Gorgeous wrapping!! I love the idea of having a cute & organized box to corral all the wrapping tidbits. This year I'm going in a whole new direction & using brown kraft/butcher paper with twine and a monogram for wrapping. Maybe I'll add a greenery sprig with fake holly berries or a pinecone. I'm excited to see the results!!

I used white craft paper last year, and really did not care for it. It was to thick, which made it difficult to wrap gifts. I found plain white wrapping paper at Walmart. I love using white gift wrap with pretty bright pastel ribbon. Im not a fan of red and green at all, and all the white gifts under the tree look so pretty.Its simple without a bunch of busy pattern!

Gift wrapping is one of my favorite things to do during the holidays. I have a box that use for collecting little add-ons throughout the year, as well as paper, bags, ribbon, etc. that I've found on a major discount. Love these ideas! I started my Holiday Countdown a couple weeks ago so that Christmas doesn't sneak up on me. http://satoridesignforliving.com/tag/holiday-countdown-series-recap/

I love the idea of a go to box with everything you need to put a gift together. Of course my box would be very different from most. I have not purchased paper solely for the purpose of ripping off a package and throwing in the trash for about 10 years. I'm much to much of a reduce, reuse, recycle person for that. So my box will have pretty pictures from catalogs to wrap things in for my mother and sister's in law, comic pages that my neighbor saves for me from his newspaper for the kids in the family, stock pages for my dad, brown paper bags that I collect on those rare occasions that I forget my fabric shopping bags as well as gift bags, boxes and bows that anyone in my family has gotten when we've received a gift. Those get recycled, not thrown out. My kids get a kick out of creating our own designs on newsprint or brown bags too. And instead of crinkle paper I use shredded documents. My packages may not be quite as pretty as some, but I feel really good knowing that I am not contributing to a landfill.

Now you've got me excited. I started my Christmas shopping -- accidentally on purpose! -- but have given no thought to wrapping gifts. Hope you'll feature more ideas on wrapping. Thanks for this nudge in the right direction.

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